So here I am, with less than 10 minutes before Y2K actually hits home, and I’m bored.

Of all the things I thought I’d be feeling right now, boredom wasn’t even in the top five, I have to tell you. But that’s pretty much par for the course when it comes to Y2K. Nothing is what it seems. A simple programming sleight of hand designed to save space has cost billions of dollars worldwide. IDC Research’s Pat Pilcher, based in Wellington, tells me the overall cost of outages should be relatively small, globally speaking, but even so it’s a lot of money being spent correcting a two-digit problem.

Anyway, as I say, I’m sitting here watching the clock tick down more interested in the astonishing news that Yeltsin has resigned than in anything the Bug has on offer. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens in the next hour or so – and then have to remind ourselves that Y2K doesn’t start and end on December 31. Here in New Zealand we’ve got a few days public holiday, then everyone will be back to work on about January 5, which should be another crunch day. And let’s not forget about February 29 or December 31 – the Leap Day problems.

Still – it’s T minus three minutes, or should that be Y minus three, so the future is at hand.

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